New Philadelphia native Meghan O’Farrell living through pandemic in Spain

Nancy Molnar The Times-Reporter

Tuesday

Apr 7, 2020 at 6:01 PM

For New Philadelphia native Meghan O’Farrell, life in Madrid has become surreal because of the coronavirus pandemic.

She, husband David Casado Rodriguez and son Rafa (Rafael) Casado O'Farrell have been largely unable to leave their home in the Spanish capital since March 15.

"We can only leave our houses to go to the grocery store, pharmacy, doctor, or to care for someone who is dependent upon us, and all of this only in an individual fashion," she said in an email to The Times-Reporter.

"Having an 8-month-old baby makes this quarantine acutely difficult for us, and for anyone with young children for that matter," wrote O’Farrell, a 2004 graduate of New Philadelphia High School.

"There is a constant wail of sirens out our window given we live close to one of the main hospitals in the city.

"Hotels are being converted into hospitals. The sidewalks are barren. Buses drive by without a single passenger.

"If you see anyone at all, they are always donning latex gloves and a mask," she wrote. "Pharmacies have been without masks, hand sanitizer, rubbing alcohol, etc. for over a month now and store workers stand behind plexi glass partitions at their registers.

(This story is being provided for free as a public service to our readers during the coronavirus outbreak. Please support local journalism by subscribing to The Times-Reporter at timesreporter.com/subscribenow)

"When going to the grocery store, we have to queue outside since they are operating under a ’one in, one out’ policy. When the masked security guard calls you in, she or he makes you apply hand sanitizer and gloves before being able to enter the store.

"Like in the US, there is a lack of medical supplies and healthcare professionals account for 15% of all COVID-19 cases in Spain.

"But each night at 8 o'clock, people lean out their windows or step onto their balconies and applaud all those people who are on the front lines of the fight — not just doctors and nurses but custodial staff, grocery store workers, delivery persons, police officers," O’Farrell wrote. "It's a bright spot in an otherwise bleak, but fortunately temporary, existence."

O’Farrell is the daughter of Tuscarawas County Common Pleas Judge Edward O’Farrell and Mary O’Farrell, Garaway schools secretary in the grade 7-12 building. Brother Joshua O’Farrell is an attorney in the Akron-Canton area. Sister Bridget Frantz lives in Wooster.

O’Farrell said her parents were to have visited with her for a week this month, but travel restrictions make it uncertain when they will be able to see each other.

Asked what she misses about New Philadelphia, O’Farrell topped the list with her parents, the rest of the family and friends back home.

"Living in a different country and in a bustling city at times makes me pine for the simplicity and familiarity of the community where I grew up," she wrote. "Especially in a time of crisis like the one we're in now, it helps being close to the people you love most.

"City living, quite often, is synonymous with apartment living, small spaces and no yards. I miss having a yard to escape to when I feel like a prisoner in my own home. It would make the quarantine much easier!"

O’Farrell presumes her family has been visited by the coronavirus.

"My husband hasn't been able to smell or taste anything for over three weeks, which seems to be a telltale sign that he was infected and, in turn, means that my son and I were most likely infected as well," Meghan O’Farrell wrote. "Thankfully, David and I are relatively young and in good health. We felt sick just a couple of days and our son hasn't shown any symptoms at all."

O’Farrell originally went to Spain to study during her junior year at the University of Notre Dame, where she earned a degree in political science. She returned to Spain in 2011 to teach English in a public high school.

She met her now-husband shortly after moving there and decided to make a life with him in Spain.

O’Farrell is employed as associate director at the IE Business School, in charge of all of the admissions procedures for the IE Brown Executive MBA, a joint program of Brown University and the IE Business School.

Previously, she was in charge of editing English language content at Katoikos, a pan-European publication which advocates for the mission of the European Union while celebrating each member state's diversity and unique culture.

O’Farrell expects to be quarantined until April 26, and possibly until May 15, if not later.

"As someone who is watching this unfold in the US from the outside, I lament that the United States squandered our ’head start,’ for lack of a better term," O’Farrell wrote. "Spain took extremely drastic measures in restricting movement ... after witnessing the virulent nature of the infection in Italy."

She is baffled that some states are still reluctant to issue stay-at-home orders.

"It's as if they don't believe what's unfolding before their eyes," she wrote. "And because of that, people will die who otherwise would have been spared."

O’Farrell expressed the hope that people in her home town, "come to the realization that this novel coronavirus is a very real threat. In Spain, almost 1,000 were dying each day as of last week. Fortunately those numbers are starting to come down thanks to the quarantine.

"But if you haven't been infected yourself, you know someone who has or someone who has succumbed to the virus.

"This virus poses a real and serious danger to you and your loved ones. If not for yourself, then stay at home for your parents, grandparents, neighbors, and strangers who, if infected with the virus, wouldn't just lose their ability to smell and taste, they would lose their lives. We never know what people are fighting or what makes them particularly vulnerable to pandemics like this one.

"Mundane errands aren't worth running right now," she wrote. "It's truly a matter of life or death for millions of people.

Reach Nancy at 330-364-8402 or nancy.molnar@timesreporter.com.

On Twitter: @nmolnarTR

Never miss a story

Choose the plan that's right for you.
Digital access or digital and print delivery.